Mains water leak

[fixitflav]

Pretty likely I would think. Nitrogen/Hydrogen mix is used, injected into the pipework at pressure, then sensitive tracing equipment picks up the escaping gas on the surface, helping to pinpoint any leaks.

Sounds about right, thanks

 

[Madrab]

It is 43 years old. The water board told me that it has a lifespan of 40 years but I've also been told it has a lifespan of 100 years.

Depends on the material - I guess if it's pin holed then it may be galvanised metal or is it old alkathene? @43 years though then I wouldn't think there would be a case for neglect or sub standard materials etc

Even then though, if it's from the toby on the boundary to your internal stop tap then unfortunately it's your responsibility regardless.

 

[sotal]

Depends on the material - I guess if it's pin holed then it may be galvanised metal or is it old alkathene? @43 years though then I wouldn't think there would be a case for neglect or sub standard materials etc

Even then though, if it's from the toby on the boundary to your internal stop tap then unfortunately it's your responsibility regardless.

Yes it is on my property, so isn't a question of if the water board are liable it not. Now it is a question on whether or not it is covered under insurance.

The insurance are saying if it is damaged say from vehicles going over, it from tree roots, it if I'd put my spade through it, then it would be covered but from age it isn't covered. It is black plastic, alkathene sounds correct.

The way they wanted to fix it was to come up outside the house and put a plastic box over the pipe (I presume insulated) then come through the garage wall and around the inside of the garage wall, then put a new stop tap in the garage and then connect to the pipe that feeds the outside tap. Then back feed the water through the house.

I don't like that option as it means that the mains water will go through a couple of isolation valves before getting to the rest of the house. It also means that the fresh water will go through about 30m of pipe that runs near the heating pipes before getting to the kitchen sink. So the water would be warm.

I'm thinking it would be better to go down the side of the garage and through at the end. Then put a stop tap in that corner of the garage and run a 15mm feed round the back wall of the garage and then through the wall into the kitchen to connect back into the original rising main, with the kitchen for being the first thing fed by the pipe.

Does that sound acceptable?

 

[Madrab]

Ah ok. If the insurance doesn't cover for wear and tear then you will be hard pushed to make a case for anything else TBH at that age.

If you want to maximise flow, never drop the mains to 15mm pipe downstream. Always keep it 22mm pipe as a min, if it's mains prior to your internal stop tap then 25mm MDPE (or the same size as the pipe from the mains connection) would be the min recommended.

As long as the mains is fully insulated along it entire length then it shouldn't be affected by any other latent heat sources. As long as the ISO valves are full bore then again that should minimise any impact to flow.

I would presume they are talking about using an Insuduct for the external mains above ground termination point. Without seeing the layout though it's hard to suggest suitable location for the exposed run but ideally the mains should be run underground as close to where the terminal point will be prior to connecting to the house's distribution pipework, minimising the risk of freezing or mechanical damage. Where it can't run underground it would need to be properly insulated/protected to comply with the regs.

 

[sotal]

Pipe replaced.

It now runs down the drive and then through the floor and into the garage, then along the wall. New stop tap fitted then 15mm pipe to join to where the old stop was.

On the first section the leak was actually on a join. There was a brass join about half way down the drive and it was spraying out of there. Tightening it made no difference, the black pipe itself was fine though.

Not sure about the leak on the other side though as I wasn't digging up the garage floor just to see how it had failed!